Marge Piercy
American | other_names = | known_for = Feminist Writings | education = B.A., University of Michigan]] M.A.. Northwestern University | employer = | occupation = Poet, Novelist | title = | party = | boards = | religion = Jewish | spouse = Three (3); 3rd husband, Ira Wood | children = | parents = | website = Marge Piercy's homepage }} Marge Piercy (born March 31, 1936) ) is an American poet, novelist, and social activist. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Gone to Soldiers,''Jodie Duckett, "Poet, novelist Marge Piercy to read at NCC," April 9, 2010, http://articles.mcall.com/keyword/fiction/recent/3, accessed September 17, 2011. a sweeping historical novel set during World War II. Life Piercy was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a family deeply affected by the Great Depression. An indifferent student in her early years, Piercy developed a love of books when she came down with rheumatic fever in her mid-childhood and could do little but read. "It taught me that there's a different world there, that there were all these horizons that were quite different from what I could see," she said in a 1984 interview. She was the 1st in her family to attend college, studying at the University of Michigan.After finishing college she spend some time in France. Her formal schooling ended with an M.A. from Northwestern University. Her debut collection of poems, ''Breaking Camp, was published in 1968. As of 2004 she was the author of 17 volumes of poems (among them The Moon is Always Female, considered a feminist classic), as well as 15 novels, a play (The Last White Class, co-authored with her 3rd husband Ira Wood), one collection of essays (Parti-colored Blocks for a Quilt), one nonfiction book, and one memoir. She lives in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Massachusetts with her husband, Ira Wood. Writing Novels Her novels and poetry often focus on feminist or social concerns, although her settings vary. While Body of Glass (published in the USA as He, She and It) is a science fiction novel that won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, City of Darkness, City of Light is set during the French Revolution. Other of her novels, such as Summer People and The Longings of Women are set during the modern day. All of her books share a focus on women's lives. Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) mixes a time travel story with issues of social justice, feminism, and the treatment of the mentally ill. This novel is considered a classic of utopian "speculative" science fiction as well as a feminist classic. William Gibson has credited Woman on the Edge of Time as the birthplace of Cyberpunk. Piercy tells this in an introduction to Body of Glass. Body of Glass (He, She and It) (1991) postulates an environmentally ruined world dominated by sprawling mega-cities and a futuristic version of the Internet, through which Piercy weaves elements of Jewish mysticism and the legend of the Golem, although a key story element is the main character's attempts to regain custody of her young son. Many of Piercy’s novels tell their stories from the viewpoints of multiple characters, often including a first-person voice among numerous 3rd-person narratives. Her World War II historical novel, Gone To Soldiers (1987) follows the lives of 9 major characters in the United States, Europe and Asia. The first-person account in Gone To Soldiers is the diary of French teenager Jacqueline Levy-Monot, who is also followed in a third-person account after her capture by the Nazis.Marge Piercy, "Gone to Soldiers," Ballantine Books, 1987 Poetry Piercy's poetry tends to be highly personal free verse and often addresses the same concern with feminist and social issues. Her work shows commitment to the dream of social change (what she might call, in Judaic terms, tikkun olam, or the repair of the world), rooted in story, the wheel of the Jewish year, and a range of landscapes and settings. Recognition Piercy won a Hopwood Award for Poetry and Fiction, 1957. Publications Poetry *''Breaking Camp''. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1968. *''Hard Loving''. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1969. *''4-Telling'' (with Bob Hershon, Emmet Jarrett, & Dick Lourie). Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1971. *''To Be of Use''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973. *''Living in the Open''. New York: Knopf, 1976. *''The Twelve-Spoked Wheel Flashing''. New York: Knopf, 1978. *''The Moon Is Always Female''. New York: Knopf, 1980. *''Circles on the Water: Selected poems of Marge Piercy''. New York: Knopf, 1982. *''Stone, Paper, Knife''. New York: Knopf, 1983. *''My Mother's Body'' (edited by Nancy Nicholas). New York: Knopf, 1985. *''Available Light''. New York: Knopf, 1988. *''Mars and Her Children''. New York: Knopf, 1992. *''What Are Big Girls Made Of?. New York: Knopf, 1997. *''Early Grrrl: The Early Poems of Marge Piercy. Wellfleet, MA: Leapfrog Press, 1999. *''The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish theme''. New York: Knopf, 1999. *''Colors Passing Through Us: Poems''. New York: Knopf, 2003. *''The Crooked Inheritance: Poems''. New York: Knopf, 2006. Novels *''Going Down Fast''. Roseville, MN: Trident, 1969. *''Dance the Eagle to Sleep''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. *''Small Changes''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973. *''Woman on the Edge of Time''. New York: Knopf, 1976. *''The High Cost of Living''. New York: Harper, 1978. *''Vida''. New York: Summit, 1980. *''Braided Lives''. New York: Summit, 1982. *''Fly Away Home''. New York: Summit, 1984. *''Gone to Soldiers''. New York: Summit, 1987. *''Summer People''. New York: Summit, 1989. *''He, She & It''. New York: Knopf, 1991 ** published as Body of Glass. London: Michael Joseph, 1992. *''The Longings of Women''. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1994. *''City of Darkness, City of Light''. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1996. *''Storm Tide'' (with husband, Ira Wood). New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1998. *''Three Women''. New York: Morrow, 1999. *''Sex Wars: A novel of the turbulent post-Civil War period''. New York: William Morrow, 2005. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.Marge Piercy b. 1936, Poetry Foundation. Web, Nov. 18, 2012. Audio / video Recordings *''Marge Piercy: Poems''. New York: Radio Free People, 1969. *''Laying Down the Tower''. New York: Black Box, 1973. *''Reclaiming Ourselves''. New York: Radio Free People, 1974. *''Reading and Thoughts''. Deland, FL: Everett/Edwards, 1976. *''At the Core''. Washington, DC: Watershed Tapes, 1976. *''Louder, We Can't Hear You (yet!): The political poems of Marge Piercy''. Leapfrog Press, 2003. Except where noted, discoographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation. See also *Feminist poets * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *Marge Piercy b. 1936 at the Poetry Foundation *Selected Poetry of Marge Piercy (1936-) (15 poems) at Representative Poetry Online *Marge Piercy at PoemHunter ;Audio *Marge Piercy at YouTube *Piercy in conversation with Martin Espada May 20, 2009 from Lannan (audio file) ;Books *Marge Piercy at Amazon.com ;About *Marge Piercy profile at the Academy of American Poets *Piercy, Marge at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction *Marge Piercy Official website Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:American novelists Category:American science fiction writers Category:American activists Category:American pacifists Category:1936 births Category:Living people Category:American poets Category:Feminist artists Category:Writers from Michigan Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:People from Wellfleet, Massachusetts Category:Writers from Massachusetts Category:Jewish American novelists Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Jewish poets Category:Feminist poets Category:American feminist writers